NPR reported this morning (09/14/2010) that Francis Scott Key wrote the poem “The Defense of Fort McHenry” this day 196 years ago, September 14, 1814.

“The Defense of Fort McHenry” is the poem Francis Scott Key wrote while stranded on a British War Ship in Baltimore Harbor, on a mission, letter in hand from President Monroe, to free his captured friend Dr. William Beanes. Having discovered the night before that the British were planning to attack Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key and his friend Dr. William Beanes were required to wait the battle out on the British ship. So inspired by his view of the battle from the harbor and the sight of the great American Flag which brazenly weathered the onslaught (though not undamaged), Mr. Key scribbled lines of poetry on the back of an envelope. When he reached shore, the poem was published in the paper and soon people all over Baltimore were singing it to the tune of popular drinking song. The song became known as “The Star Spangled Banner” and it became our National Anthem in 1931.

*
Wonderful historical article (with marvelous pictures and a fun quiz to take the earns a certificate for answering all questions correctly) about the War of 1812 and how the STAR SPANGLED BANNER became the United States National Anthem, on Smithsonian website:http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/

I am very proud of mine:

*********************

An act of friendship on the part of Mr. Key and the act of defiance on the part of that historic flag and we’ve got ourselves and inspiring (though challenging) tune with which to honor our Nation and to sing at the beginning of baseball games (and that’s the best part of any ballgame if you ask me!).

Francis Scott Key wrote four full verses to the poem. Generally, we only sing the first, but all three verses can be sung to the familiar tune:

THE DEFENSE OF FORT MCHENRY(also known as THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER) Poem by Francis Scott Key

O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

*********************

It’s great fun to visit Fort McHenry in Baltimore and visit the very spot where the flag held forth, see the ramparts, and imagine the ships in Baltimore Harbor.

*
Wonderful historical article (with marvelous pictures and a fun quiz to take the earns a certificate for answering all questions correctly) about the War of 1812 and how the STAR SPANGLED BANNER became the United States National Anthem, on Smithsonian website:http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/

*********************

What makes all this extra fun for me? “The Star Spangled Banner” is the subject of many Singable Picture Books!

When it comes to creating accurately detailed pictures that are fun to look at and respect the intelligence of children, you can’t find a better illustrator than Peter Spier. This is a fantastic book. The pictures tell the authentic story of the battle, witnessed by Francis Scott Key, which inpired the poem, which was later set to music and eventually became our National Anthem. This book features printed music and a detailed essay about the song, and three verses of the song’s original text.

When it comes to creating accurately detailed pictures that are fun to look at and respect the intelligence of children, you can’t find a better illustrator than Peter Spier. This is a fantastic book. The pictures tell the authentic story of the battle, witnessed by Francis Scott Key, which inpired the poem, which was later set to music and eventually became our National Anthem. This book features printed music and a detailed essay about the song, and three verses of the song’s original text.

*Star Spangled Banner
Words by Francis Scott Key
Music by J. Stafford Smith
Illustrated by Todd Ouren
(This book features printed music and historical information)

Watching the Antiques Roadshow broadcast from Eugene Oregon, I enjoyed this appraisal of a piece of the music used by a team of great American musicians to standardize the National Anthem under orders from President Woodrow Wilson.

**********************AddendumFrom my March 2011 post, “The Star-Spangled Banner and the Man in the Red Shoes on the Radio”

My walk-up apartment in NYC was in the middle of a block on the 5th of 6 or 7 floors. Cable was not on my list of affordable luxuries and my television go no reception at all. But my tiny little flat was a world of happiness, thanks in large part to the delights of the public radio station WNYC and broadcasts of shows like “Prairie Home Companion.”

I looked forward to hearing Garrison Keillor’s show all week long. Now, though the duties of motherhood often have me away from the radio on the weekends, I listen to the show whenever I can and savor it like a child licking a lollipop that she wants to last forever and ever.

These days, my Netflix Q of on-demand videos brings me a lot of joy and includes many documentaries, including one I just saw:

Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes

Few things on earth inspire me more than Mr. Keillor and “Prairie Home Companion” and this documentary stoked the fire of my love.

I deeply enjoy finding places where beloved art forms intersect, as they did in this documentary, with the junction of “Prairie Home Companion” and our National Anthem and Singable Picture Book “The Star Spangled Banner.”

About 29 minutes into the show, Mr. Keillor says, in a scene performing before a live audience, “Let’s start out by standing and singing our Star-Spangled Banner…” And then he continues with a voice over commentary about singing the song,

…Minnesota is a place where if you ask an audience to sing, they’re gonna do it, they were brought up to. Like ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ Which, like our system of government, is much maligned and badly abused, but, if you put it in the right key, which is the key of G, it works pretty well. And it’s very moving. People get so much of their politics listening to other people rant and rave on the radio sitting alone in a car, or reading someone’s blog. And, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is one of those rare moments when we sing a song together. Which means more for all of us joining in. We share a common tongue and a fondness for jokes a love of American landscape and we are a Union.

This is also why singing songs together (especially with children and Singable Picture Books) is such a worthy activity…to enjoy our heritage in song, a moment in common. And it allows for the reflection that regardless of what ideologies that divide us, we know, share and love, so many of the same things.

**********************Addendum, April 2012

The Gleichenhaus Family visited Fort McHenry (just outside of Baltimore, MD), site of the original Star Spangled Banner, in April 2012.

*

Arriving at Fort McHenry on a gorgeous day, around 5pm, with the flap pole, ramparts and fort buildings in clear view. Beyond the fort is Baltimore Harbor where the battle chronicled in our National Anthem took place.

*“…O’r the rampart we watched were so gallantly streaming…”

*My husband Charlie with the ramparts, the flag and the Singable Picture Book.

*My son Mo on the spot where the original Star-Spangled Banner (now preserved in the Smithsonian Museum of American History) flew and remained flying through the perilous fight.

**********************Addendum, April 3, 2012

On April 3, 2012, we participated in wonderful ceremony with large flag curated by a fabulous National Park Ranger.

Pictures of the Star-Spangled Banner Singable Picture Book with flag ceremony curated by a wonderful National Park Ranger on April 3, 2012 at Fort McHenry

*Above, the ranger is holding the flag we will open up, holding the edges and working together as a group.

*Above, the Ranger is telling the story of the Defense of Fort McHenry and how the poem by Francis Scott Key became our National Anthem.

The Gleichenhaus Family visited Fort McHenry (just outside of Baltimore, MD), site of the original Star Spangled Banner, in April 2012. We participated in wonderful ceremony with large flag curated by a fabulous Ranger who also played for us the Star Spangled Banner on the fife.

**********************Addendum, 11/26/2013

One of the best things about living a subway ride from downtown Washington, DC is living in close proximity to the Smithsonian museums. We are members and the terrific Smithsonian Magazine comes with the membership.

November 2013 Smithsonian Magazine features “101 OBJECTS THAT MADE AMERICA.”

We often sing the National Anthem in Sing Books visits. We talk about the many reasons THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER is a wonderful song, that it tells a story, it captures a historical moment for the United States, that it inspired citizens in our fledgling country during the war of 1812, it is our National Anthem, it was written by a brave man endeavoring to save a friend while caught up in a battle of a war, we can visit the very flag about which the song is written at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and we can visit the very ramparts over which the flag flew and was seen in Baltimore Harbor by Francis Scott Key at Fort McHenry outside Baltimore, and it is a beautiful song that inspires people the world over even today…

Renee Fleming captured all of that at the beginning of Super Bowl 2014:

As part of the SINGABLE HIKE in Washington, DC, on march 16, 2014, the families of Girl Scout Troop 2740 visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History flag exhibit and then had permission to sing THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER. It was wonderful experience.

My son and I went to the National Mall on June 14, 2014 for the Flag Day event at the Smithsonian Museum of American History beginning the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

It was the most gorgeous day and we spent all day in the museums and outside along the National Mall.

At 2:30 pm, the concert began outside and at 4 pm the whole nation had the chance to sing the STAR-SPANGLED BANNER as a country. It was a wonderful experience and we are so glad we got to sing-along:

*
RAISE IT UP! ANTHEM FOR AMERICA
Program Flyer at Smithsonian Museum of American History
6/14/2014

**********************Addendum 8/21/21014

Thank Goodness it was re-broadcast recently or I might not have see it, a C-Span3 (American History Channel) broadcast of a 7/3/2014 panel lecture/presentation/discussion at the Library of Congress called MYTHS SURROUNDING THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

Francis Scott Key did not ride out the battle on a British Ship. He was transferred to his own American ship, which was tethered to a British ship for the duration of the battle and for about 3 days after the battle while the British gathered themselves together to leave, after making arrangements with the British for the release of Key’s friend and client Dr. Beanes.

Francis Scott Key, like many Americans at the time knew it, knew the tune to To Anacreon in Heaven and purposefully wrote his song (not poem) to the melodic structure of that existing tune. This is something done all the time, even today, setting new words to familiar tunes, and Key did this on purpose after the Battle of Fort McHenry and while he waited on his own ship to be released by the British. In other words, Key purposely wrote a song, not a poem.

The song was written to be sung as a joyous celebration, with a fast, upbeat tempo.